Continuing Professional Development

This change shifts the focus to the quality of CPD activities instead of the quantity of CPD hours. Under the revised practice standard, licensed professionals focus on key standards and requirements, and each individual owns the maintenance of their competence and can justify it to their peers, if need be, through their PACE plans and CPD activity records.

All practising licensed professionals must adhere to the requirements set out in the revised Continuing Professional Development practice standard, no matter the kind of work their role requires. Even if a licensed professional is working in management and no longer does technical or design work, they must still create a PACE plan and can choose to complete CPD activities that are aligned with the responsibilities of their role.

Life members, non-practising licensed professionals, students, examination candidates, and members-in-training are excluded from CPD requirements.

The learning modules are hosted on APEGA’s learning management system within myAPEGA. Licensed professionals can access them by logging in to myAPEGA and selecting Learning Modules on the top right-hand side of the dashboard taskbar.

The learning modules that became available after November 1, 2025, may not be visible until after a licensed professional’s next annual renewal date. Each licensed professional will have one year from that date to complete the learning modules and create their PACE plan before the standard becomes enforceable for them.

Each licensed professional must complete all the learning modules when they are assigned, even if they have previously taken the module or are familiar with its content. Some modules will remain the same, but they will be updated and adjusted as legislation, practice standards, guidelines, or bulletins are revised.

Although APEGA’s revised CPD requirements no longer require licensed professionals to complete and submit a certain number of activity-based CPD hours, other organizations may still continue to promote CPD hours in their course or event offerings. Licensed professionals should choose activities based on the benefit to their practice rather than the duration of the activities, but can use CPD hours listed in external course descriptions to help gauge the course’s contribution to their competence.

The revised Continuing Professional Development practice standard was published on November 1, 2025. However, the new CPD requirements will be assigned to each licensed professional on their next annual renewal date after November 1, 2025. Starting from that date, each licensed professional will have one year to meet the requirements of the standard before their compliance is assessed.

During this transition, until the new CPD requirements are assigned, licensed professionals may not see any pending action items or be able to access the learning modules in myAPEGA. For example, if a licensed professional’s next annual renewal date is May 2026, then the requirements will not be assigned until then. Once they are assigned, the licensed professional will have until the end of April 2027 to complete the requirements before they become enforceable.

The PACE plan is similar to the CPD requirements of Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia. The focus is to switch to specific learning requirements for licensed professionals. The learning modules were added as a requirement due to findings from practice reviews, which identified key standards and legislative obligations that were not being consistently applied across the professions.

As recommended in the Personal Annual Competency Evaluation practice guideline, licensed professionals are encouraged to discuss their PACE plans with another licensed professional, such as a Responsible Member, supervisor, peer, or mentor, but doing so is not a requirement.

Licensed professionals have an obligation through the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act to maintain their competence, and it is their responsibility to create and follow their PACE plans as part of meeting their legislated obligations. APEGA has provided a PACE plan template for licensed professionals to refer to while developing their own plans. APEGA will not verify PACE plans are adequate because it is up to the licensed professional to determine what is required for them to maintain competence.

At any time, the Practice Review Board may request a licensed professional’s PACE plans. Failure to provide a complete written record of their PACE plans within the specified time frame may result in cancellation of registration, in accordance with General Regulation 19.1 under the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act.